RIA Novosti published and even pinned on the main page of the site – apparently as a particularly important material – a note under the heading "French instructors declared indifference to the fate of Ukrainian soldiers":
“French instructors do not care about the fate of the Ukrainian military,” wrote Le Monde columnist Elise Vincent.
The article talks about a secret training ground in Poland, where French instructors train soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the end of the five-week training, a ceremony is held to send off Ukrainians who are going to their possible death, the journalist said.
“What happens to them next is none of our concern. Their future is not our problem, ”the newspaper quotes the words of French Colonel Benoit.
The day before, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Kyiv had lost more than 26,000 troops since the start of the counteroffensive.
In fact, a short article by Elise Vincent, “French Train Ukrainian Soldiers in Poland,” reveals that France has declassified information about a Ukrainian military training program at a former Soviet military base in Poland, which involves 120 French instructors and 80 support staff. The French Colonel Benois, seconded to the Polish headquarters, says that the program is designed for 5 weeks; according to him, this is a very short time, but we have to take into account the requirements of the Ukrainian army.
Benois notes the high motivation of the Ukrainian military, who are undergoing a high-intensity course with live firing twice a week and training in trench combat with imitation shelling.
The phrase that attracted the attention of RIA is a fragment of the final paragraph of the article, the translation of which should be given in full:
“At the end of five weeks of training, there is always a ceremony dedicated to the departure of Ukrainians. There is no official talk about fear of the future. “All the Ukrainians we see are very motivated,” said Colonel Benois. “What happens next is not our topic.”
Not only is the phrase of one colonel of the RIA trying to pass off as evidence of the indifference of French instructors in general to the fate of Ukrainian soldiers, but the phrase itself refers only to the atmosphere of a farewell ceremony before leaving for the front: the future is not discussed, no one should talk about fear.
